NSF NOIRLab

Dark Sky Week is here! 🔦✨ Ever wondered how light pollution really affects our view of the stars? Astronomer Cinthya Rodriguez is here with a super cool AstroBox demo to show you exactly what happens! This simple activity shows how we can use smart lighting to protect the night sky. #DarkSkyWeek #NOIRLab #LightPollution #astronomy

This column of red and purple light spouting from the clouds is so otherworldly, it looks like it must be a special effect. However, this breathtaking image is real 😲 – it is a lightning phenomenon known as a red sprite. Red sprites are distinctive because of their color and the direction in which they strike, measuring up to 90 kilometers above the cloud deck. It is extremely rare to catch one on camera. This image was captured in 2017 by a cloud camera at Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF NOIRLab. Gemini North sits at an altitude of around 4200 meters (13,800 feet) on Maunakea in Hawai’i. 📷: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/A. Smith

"It’s Global Astronomy Month, and we’re launching 8 exclusive stickers to celebrate! 🌠 Sticker #4: the SMARTS Consortium at Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab .The telescopes here don’t just make cute stickers– they can spot exoplanets around nearby stars AND monitor Near-Earth Asteroids to defend our planet 🌎☄️ Visit us at www.noirlab.edu/stickers to download your copy to use anywhere ✨ What telescope do you think we will announce next? Let us know in the comments! ⬇️ #GAM2025 #GlobalAstronomyMonth #Astronomy

An international team led by NSF NOIRLab astronomer Christina Williams has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy known to date! Named Zhúlóng, meaning ‘Torch Dragon’ 🐉 in Chinese mythology, this ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang, and yet it shows a surprisingly mature structure. Zhúlóng was discovered as part of the PANORAMIC Survey conducted on NASA's James Webb Telescope. Read more in the press release: https://lnkd.in/eurTpMhA

Could this photo be any better? 🥰 Star trails paint the sky above NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory in this long-exposure shot! While this photo captures minutes or hours, Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos on a whole new level during its decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)! Rubin will use a technique known as difference imaging: Rubin will image the southern sky every few nights. Scientists will stack these images into ultra-long exposures and create a template image of the southern sky. When this template is compared to individual images, scientists will be able to identify changes in the night sky, such as new supernovae or pulsations of stars. After 10 years and thousands of exposures, Rubin will produce an unprecedented ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition, time-lapse record of our Universe — the ultimate movie of the night sky with the largest digital camera ever built! 🍿🎥 📷: Rubin Obs./NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/H. Stockebrand

How much data will NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory produce? 💾 Rubin will generate about 20 terabytes of data every night as it scans the southern sky. Over the course of the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, Rubin will generate more data than everything that's ever been written in any language in human history — about 60 petabytes.🤯 Once operational in 2025, Rubin will be jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. #CaptureTheCosmos 📷: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/A. Alexov

Happy Global Astronomy Month 🥳 🚀 To celebrate, NOIRLab is launching 8 exclusive stickers inspired by our very own telescopes! 🔭 Since we are so excited to show off our new stickers, here’s two more (packed into one fun design)! 😉. The International Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. The International Gemini Observatory consists of identical twin telescopes with one in Hawai‘i and the other in Chile, meaning this sticker works for both! Together, these telescopes can see the entire sky! 🤩🌌 Visit us at www.noirlab.edu/stickers to download your copy to use anywhere 🌠 Stay tuned—more stickers are coming soon! Which telescope are you most excited to see? Comment below ⤵️ #GAM2025 #GlobalAstronomyMonth #Astronomy

Fire from above and below 🌠🌋 A meteor streaks through the sky above Maunakea in this image captured in March 2025 by a cloud monitoring camera at Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. The glow on the horizon is from the erupting Kīlauea volcano. The blanket of clouds showcases the height of Maunakea, which rises 4205 meters (13,786 feet) above sea level in Hawai’i. 📷: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

It’s Global Astronomy Month and we’re not “Kitt”-ing around! To celebrate, NOIRLab is launching 8 exclusive stickers inspired by our very own telescopes located in Arizona, Hawai’i and Chile! 🔭 The second sticker of this series is of the NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF NOIRLab. The Mayall hosts the DESI Survey– an international experiment with more than 900+ researchers from 70+ institutions. They’ve recently compiled the largest 3D map of the Universe EVER with over 15,000,000 galaxies and quasars! 🤯🌌 Visit us at www.noirlab.edu/stickers to download your copy to use anywhere ✨ Stay tuned—more stickers are coming soon! Which telescope are you most excited to see? Comment below ⤵️

🌕✨ Moonlight, telescopes, and a whole lot of science! Perched high on Maunakea, this stunning shot captures two world-class observatories: the iconic dome of Gemini North in the foreground, and Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope in the back — all basking in the glow of a blazing Moon. Astronomers love the Moon (it’s one of the first things most of us ever observed!)… but it can also be a bit of a challenge 😅. When it’s full it floods the sky with light, washing out fainter objects like distant galaxies or nebulae. That’s why astronomers often plan their observations around the lunar cycle — or they observe in infrared! 🌌📆 This photo was captured during the NOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition by NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador, Theofanis Matsopoulos. 📷: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Matsopoulos 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eE7Sfijv